Olympiacos racks up 29 assists in crushing Gran Canaria

Olympiacos Piraeus made it six wins out of seven by blasting past Herbalife Gran Canaria, securing a 98-77 home win thanks to an outstanding offensive exhibition featuring a new club record of 29 assists. The Reds never looked troubled after moving clear with a 32-point barrage in the second quarter and improved to 9-5 for a share of fourth place, while Gran Canaria dropped to 5-9. The classic duo of Vassilis Spanoulis (21 points and 8 assists) and Georgios Printezis (16 points) led the way for Olympiacos, while Zach LeDay added 12 points and Nigel Williams-Goss, Janis Strelnieks and Nikola Milutinov all scored 11. Recently signed Siim-Sander Vene paced Gran Canaria with 15 points.

It was low scoring in the early stages before Ondrej Balvin and former Olympiacos forward Kim Tillie each scored twice to send Gran Canaria ahead. But that was the signal for Printezis to take over with four baskets in less than four minutes. A big slam-and-one by LeDay was the highlight of the opening quarter, which finished 20-14 to Olympiacos. A deep three from Markus Eriksson kept Gran Canaria in touch early in the second, but a series of free throws and stiffened defense extended Olympiacos's lead into double digits. Williams-Goss and Printezis both scored from long-range to make it 40-24 before a huge dunk from Milutinov and a triple from Strelnieks added to the advantage, which reached 52-33 at the break after Strelnieks beat the buzzer from long distance. Another pair of baskets from the red-hot Printezis started the second half, but Albert Oliver responded with two scores for Gran Canaria. A pair of three-pointers from Spanoulis maintained the lead and the third quarter finished at 73-54 as Vene and D.J. Strawberry struck from deep. Luke Fischer, Balvin and Vene scored in a 0-8 run to narrow the gap to 80-67 midway through the fourth, but it never got closer than that as Spanoulis led another scoring burst for Olympiacos to seal the deal.

Milutinov turns provider

After claiming the MVP award in Round 13 with a big double-double against Barcelona on Tuesday, on this occasion Nikola Milutinov showed another aspect of his increasingly impressive game by turning provider. The Olympiacos big man set a new career high by dishing 5 assists, meaning he has achieved personal bests in five different statistical categories in the last three days.

Sharing is caring

Milutinov was by no means the only Olympiacos player who shared the ball well, with 10 different players providing at least 1 assist to set a new club record of 29. Fourteen of them came from the backcourt duo of Vassilis Spanoulis (8) and Nigel Williams-Goss (6), and Kostas Papanikolaou registered 3. The excellent ball movement not only set an assists record, but also led to outstanding shooting percentages, with Olympiacos making 26 of 39 two-point attempts (66.7%) and 11 of 23 three-pointers (47.8%).

Radicevic joins list of Gran Canaria absentees

Having cut ties with Christopher Evans in the build-up to the game and still without injured point guard Clevin Hannah, Gran Canaria suffered a further depletion of its ranks after just 90 seconds when playmaker Nikola Radicevic was forced off through injury. That led to 40-year-old Albert Oliver playing nearly 27 minutes – by far his highest game time of the season – and although the veteran responded well with 10 points and 5 assists, the loss of Radicevic on top of everyone else was too much to overcome.

Next round

Round 15 will see Olympiacos head coach David Blatt lead his team into Turkey to face last-placed Darussafaka Tefken Istanbul next Thursday. Blatt coached Darussafaka to 7DAYS EuroCup glory last season. Gran Canaria reaches the halfway stage of the regular season at home to Zalgiris Kaunas the following night.

Head Coaches

BLATT, DAVID

Olympiacos Piraeus

“The players focused and recognised that what happened two days ago has nothing to do with today. They came out with a positive mental attitude, and Gran Canaria is a tough team to beat. They have some very good players, so we had to play and I’m glad we did. When the ball is moving, you get some good shots and make them, everyone is happy.”

GARCIA, VICTOR

Herbalife Gran Canaria

"We had a bad first half, especially in the second quarter. We started the game with the problem of Radicevic’s injury – he’s an important player for us because Hannah is out. We weren’t at the same physical level in the first half. We had some problems controlling the defensive rebound but in the second half we were better competing in every situation, doing great things and with good effort."

Players

SPANOULIS, VASSILIS

Olympiacos Piraeus

“We are moving forward. We are not yet in the position we want but for sure we’re playing much better basketball and we’re on the right path.”

PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS

Olympiacos Piraeus

“We are professionals and have to give our best. We rest, take care of ourselves and get ready for the back to back game. We do this very well, most of the time we win [in double weeks] and the congrats are for everybody – the coaching staff, the players and everyone else.”

OLIVER, ALBERT

Herbalife Gran Canaria

"We played better in the second half because in the first we had serious problems with our defensive rebounds. In the second we were better and it was a closer game, but it was very tough for us. Spanoulis is a great player, very difficult to stop. I'm glad for the opportunity to play against him, but we wanted a closer game."